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White Buffalo turquoise!!!

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White Buffalo turquoise!!!

Old 09-08-19, 11:15 AM
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White Buffalo turquoise!!!


So, the Holy Grail of turquoise is White Buffalo turquoise. It's only mined in one mine in the world, someplace North of Las Vegas in the desert. So obviously, it's pretty rare, & spendy when you can find it.
Being in Kingman (again) I finally found the right deal. 😁 I sure wasn't looking for it, but sometimes an item can find you. 😉
This is a perfect fit, & as a bonus, the silversmith's hallmark is a pictograph. Those are cool, and uniquely identify an artist's work. 👍
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Old 09-08-19, 11:18 AM
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BTW, I was riding this bicycle, when I found it, so on topic. 😋😉
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Old 09-08-19, 02:11 PM
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Very cool Nice car
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Old 09-08-19, 04:02 PM
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Wow, that's cool!
So where did you find the ring? I don't see a store there?
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Old 09-08-19, 04:07 PM
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Oh and btw, that looks like white buffalo, aka Howlite, not White turquoise. There is no true thing such as white buffalo turquoise. I hope you didn't get fooled, there's a huge difference in rarity and price between white buffalo and White turquoise.
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Old 09-08-19, 04:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Siu Blue Wind
Wow, that's cool!
So where did you find the ring? I don't see a store there?
I found the ring in a little store, right in downtown Kingman, but sitting in a weird place, advertising Thai food & Indian souvenirs. And the owner's a white guy, lol. 😁😉
But he has a lot of nice stuff, and seems pretty knowledgeable, especially about some of the local silversmiths. One of the nicer belt buckles was an Effie, which is a popular family of silversmiths, and he knows a couple generations of them. 😎
As far as price, not bad at all, a little over $125. And I've read up on the question of wether Otteson-mined white turquoise is "real" or not, and decided NOT to buy any. Apparently, I can't trust myself. 😁😉
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Old 09-08-19, 10:13 PM
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I love Howlite, I have some beads on a Mala made of it. Your ring is absolutely beautiful, you are very lucky indeed to find that little store. Sometimes the best treasures are in places like that.

I found a Laramar pendant in silver for a killer price in a little shop. Sometimes they have the best pieces because they buy them long ago when the color is the darkest. So when the mine is getting dry, the lighter color stones are what's left. And because the shop is tiny and in out of the way places, those treasures sit and sit and sit.

I think both of us are very fortunate!
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Old 09-08-19, 11:40 PM
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Yes ma'am, fortunate in some ways, and I usually try to share the wealth, within reason. 👍 But I'm also very spoiled, in that I find most of my turquoise in places like pawn shops & thrift stores. This is only the second piece I've bought, that has cost me more than $100. Heck, I've wasted more than $100 on a night's drinking, when I was young & foolish. 😉
Yeah, it's tricky telling the difference, but there are plenty of clues, at the main turquoise websites. White Buffalo "stone" from the Otteson's mine, is A) hard enough to use in jewelry (not chalky or disintegrating), B) takes a good polish (Howlite is called a matte finish, not it), and C) is a very pure white, with black Chert as a matrix. The ones with a gray matrix, aren't it.
There's a lot of turquoise out there that's off-white, and really is turquoise, but it's not the questionable White Buffalo we have here. Those ones might actually be more valuable, being "real" turquoise.
But keep in mind, the only thing keeping anyone from calling White Buffalo real turquoise, is the lack of coloring. Which is caused by exposure to heavy minerals (copper & iron usually). So if you look at it right, it's "really" a more pure turquoise than colored turquoise. Hmmm? 🤔😁😉
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Old 09-09-19, 03:52 AM
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Check out the Village Silversmith, they have some cool stuff.
https://www.villagesilversmith.net/
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Old 09-10-19, 01:08 PM
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OK, I seem to be on a roll here, collecting turquoise & such, so I'll ride it out. 😉 I found another place, off of highway 66, called The Gold Lady, which caters to prospectors. I picked this ring up partly because it fits this thread perfectly. As I mentioned, some turquoise is such a pale blue, that it can look white, at first glance. 😎
But it's also just a cool ring on it's own merits, very old, with coral, and I think that darker blue stone might be from either the Blue Bird mine or possibly Sleeping Beauty. 🤔 It's just a very distinctive shade of blue, that most of us really like. 🙂
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Old 09-11-19, 04:24 PM
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OK, one more, then I quit for awhile. 😉 I might end up living on peanut butter at the end of the month, because of this silly old bracelet. But I had to have it, just look at that stone with the blue & green together, on the same stone. They say finding a vein of turquoise with both blue & green is pretty rare, so both on the same stone is not easy to find. 👍 Plus that center stone is very pale-colored, like mint green. Not really celeste, a little too pale for that, but still way cool, I think. 😎
I have no idea yet, how old these are, but definitely vintage, and the silver bracelet is quite hefty.
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Old 09-15-19, 07:48 PM
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How about some "dark" coral, with a dab of regular coral, on a vintage amulet? Most likely Navajo-made, but no hallmarks or "Sterling" stamped in, so probably also Old Pawn. I still haven't cleaned it at all, but did put that chain on it, from another piece, that held cheap "chalky" turquoise. The chain is from something far nicer than chalk, and has feathers on the little sliders. 😎
I also bought this old but shiny bicycle bell, at the same antique store, just so this thread could stay, lol. 🙄😉 You can ignore my grapes, that's for a different thread.
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Old 09-15-19, 10:50 PM
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Growing up in Mesa, Arizona and spending 20'ish years in the area, I can say I've seen enough of this stuff for a lifetime. But, there is still some deep seeded, almost subconscious, intrigue here. And although it's not my thing, I can respect your knowledge and passion for the subject. Keep on the hunt! Maybe you'll even stumble across the Dutchman's mine one of these days
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Old 09-16-19, 02:49 AM
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Originally Posted by The Thin Man
Growing up in Mesa, Arizona and spending 20'ish years in the area, I can say I've seen enough of this stuff for a lifetime. But, there is still some deep seeded, almost subconscious, intrigue here. And although it's not my thing, I can respect your knowledge and passion for the subject. Keep on the hunt! Maybe you'll even stumble across the Dutchman's mine one of these days
Thanks for not calling me an idjit, at least, lol. 😉 This is just for fun, mostly, and turquoise is my birthstone. I'm not "investing" in this stuff, never pay much, and haven't ever sold anything, but have traded a couple times.
I am learning a lot, especially about the cultural & spiritual significance of both turquoise & coral. 🙂 I like the story of the Rainbow Man, and the prediction of multi-cultural peace & harmony. Beats the heck out of Armageddon-type pessimism. 🙄😉
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Old 09-16-19, 11:05 PM
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Originally Posted by stardognine
Thanks for not calling me an idjit, at least, lol.
I meant no offense with my comment although rereading it makes me think I could have softened it a bit! Again, my apologies.
It's a great thing to be well rounded and have other hobbies rather than just bikes. I'm a big fan of diversifying. There is so much out there in life to learn about and if 10,000 hours makes mastery, one might as well master a few things in our decades on this planet.
As for the jewelry, I always did like the turquoise/coral combo. Strong, yet strikingly harmonious colors!
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Old 09-17-19, 09:51 AM
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No offense taken at all, I must not have said that quite the way it was meant. 🙂
I got a very late start on "collecting" turquoise, for various reasons. But I've always felt drawn to it, like it "fits" me, in some way that's hard to describe. I hesitate to call it a spiritual thing, but it really is kinda like that. 🤔
It sure seems like I'm not the only one who thinks that. 😉
I really need to read up more, on the healing powers people believe turquoise to have. 🤔

I did read recently, that King Tut was only 19 when he died, and his head was mis-shapen, due to inbreeding. That was part of the reason for those weird hats, lol. 🤓 😉
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Old 09-17-19, 02:40 PM
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Originally Posted by stardognine

So, the Holy Grail of turquoise is White Buffalo turquoise. It's only mined in one mine in the world, someplace North of Las Vegas in the desert. So obviously, it's pretty rare, & spendy when you can find it.
Being in Kingman (again) I finally found the right deal. 😁 I sure wasn't looking for it, but sometimes an item can find you. 😉
This is a perfect fit, & as a bonus, the silversmith's hallmark is a pictograph. Those are cool, and uniquely identify an artist's work. 👍
that would make an awesome head badge
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Old 09-17-19, 06:33 PM
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My wife and I have driven most of whats left of old 66 and I think we have been in most of the old shop from Oklahoma to Arizona. My wife is the expert on Turquoise not me. She still ends up buying from the smith who made the item. We bought a few very old items as presents for our kids. Here is our vintage rt 66 car
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Old 09-18-19, 03:45 PM
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Nice car there. 👍 Just this morning, I went past one of the main places that refurbish vintage cars. I saw a 60s GTO, a 70s GTO, a couple early 70s El Caminos, including a SS, and several older ones. 😎

I also found a pendant (made by Thomas Francisco, a prominent silversmith), with a nice chunk of Dry Creek turquoise, also known as Sacred Buffalo, which tests as real turquoise. This stuff isn't pure white with a black matrix, like White Buffalo stone, but rather very pale blue, with a gold and/or brown matrix. 🙂 I haven't purchased this one yet, but probably will, early next month. 😉
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Old 09-20-19, 12:01 PM
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We enjoyed driving the 2004 musang on a lot of roads in the south west US but it is useless as soon as you get on gravel or rutted roads.
Last time we were in SantaFe we went into all those expensive shops but ended up buying from a Indian lady at the town center. I asked her if she could tell my wifes people and she guessed correct ,
Iroquoian. She is Mohicans.. Recent DNA test shows Mohawk. I think they were all the same people before 1650 AD
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Old 09-20-19, 01:36 PM
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Well, I found this old belt buckle, for way less cash than most, so grabbed it. 🙄😉 That mountain goat isn't everybody's cup of tea, but I figured with all the mountains I've crossed in the last year or so, it kinda fits me pretty good. 😁

I need to refresh my memory later, as to what mine had this "high blue" color. I know I like it. 😎
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Old 09-20-19, 04:44 PM
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It's kinda tough to say "for sure" what mine it's from, without paperwork or a reliable history of each piece, but the turquoise on this buckle is probably from either Turquoise Mountain or Ithaca Peak. Those are both part of the Kingman mining complex, but marketed as separate from "regular" Kingman, because they're obviously a bit different. 🙂 Either is worth a good bit more than I paid. 😉
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Old 09-22-19, 12:20 PM
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OK, something told me to gently wash this buckle yesterday, and that allowed me to see the iron pyrite in it. And that helped me to see, that these nice natural nuggets are actually from the Morenci mine, over in SE Arizona, near New Mexico. 😎

There's a lot of cool stuff to learn, about Morenci turquoise, like the fact that Geronimo gave one of the early white "owners" of the mine a lot of trouble. 😉

And bizarre as it sounds, the owners once buried a heck of a lot of the stuff, on purpose. 😲 The Morenci mining company mines copper, but the workers found this turquoise, too, and removed some by taking it home in their lunchboxes. 😁 The owners became upset with the distraction from copper mining, and buried a crapload of it, on purpose, to get copper mining back on track. 🙄
Sounds pretty nutty, but the fact remains, that it's the biggest copper mine in the U. S., and still produces 750,000,000 pounds of copper a year! 😲 That's a lot of copper.

I grabbed another pic, of it, plus a pic of this book I just finished. This book is fiction, but Mr. L'amour still provides a lot of information about the Anasazi, who were here in the times of the ancient Mayas, and traded with them. That would before the times of the Navajo & Hopi, both latecomers, comparatively. 😉
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Old 09-22-19, 12:27 PM
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BTW, as I came down the 12-mile hill from Golden Valley to Bullhead City yesterday, I found a secret hidden rest stop near the 8-mile marker. The bulletin board thing identifies these as (Desert) Mountain Bighorn Sheep, not mountain goats, like I thought. 😉
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Old 09-22-19, 02:32 PM
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I was just at Sandy Vally rooting through various mines, pulled a little silver. Nice country
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